1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating semiconductor devices by dicing wafers.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor devices are fabricated in such a way that wafers are thinned and the thinned wafers are diced, for example. JP2004-207607A discloses a wafer dividing method in which a wafer having a plurality of circuits formed on the front side is divided into separate semiconductor chips with circuits. This dividing method includes the steps of attaching the front side of a wafer to a support substrate through an adhesive, polishing the back side of the wafer, cutting the wafer from the back side to dice the wafer into separate semiconductor chips, and picking up the semiconductor chips from the support substrate. In addition, it is described that the support substrate is formed of a highly rigid member.
It is difficult to pick up thinned semiconductor chips held on a support substrate from the support substrate formed of a highly rigid member, by using the method described in JP2004-207607A. For example, it is likely that thinned, fragile semiconductor chips will be chipped or cracked in picking up the semiconductor chips based upon this method.
Also, there is a method in which the back side of a wafer is processed according to which protection tape is applied on the front side of the wafer, i.e., the surface on which circuits, electrodes, or the like are formed. In this process, dicing tape is applied on the back side of the wafer. After the process for the wafer, the protection tape on the front side of the wafer is removed, and then the wafer is diced. However, because thinned wafers have a low rigidity and tend to warp, it is difficult to perfectly apply dicing tape on wafers. For this reason, a space, i.e., a void is sometimes created between the wafer and dicing tape. When water that is used for washing and that contains cutting dusts enters this void, it is likely that the cutting dusts will become attached to circuits or electrodes on the front side of the wafer.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved method of fabricating a semiconductor device.